Sydney. Have to build the expat support base then they can take the game to Lebanon.

I did actually see a few tweets in Arabic about the Cedars during the RLWC. Slowly but surely it will catch on, like the Pacific Islands Lebanon has a big base of diaspora players to choose from and no other good national teams to root for.

2002 yeah right....almost all rugby league wikipedia articles put it at the same level of rugby unionok guys i have nothing against your sport we will see next year the true impact of this tournament on the international scene

It was a ok tournament not great not bad, just ok. the eligibility issues clouded the tournament in the early rounds but the final was an absolute cracker, the players left everything on the pitch.

Rugby League has been down this road before several times... so all this announcements are not new. until we see solid improvements in all the new countries we will be having the same conversations at the next RLWC.

They have issues to sort out which have been discussed and until they are sorted Rugby League will playing second fiddle not just to Rugby Union but other sports as well in the International scene.

Osmanperalta wrote:2002 yeah right....almost all rugby league wikipedia articles put it at the same level of rugby unionok guys i have nothing against your sport we will see next year the true impact of this tournament on the international scene

Osmanperalta wrote:2002 yeah right....almost all rugby league wikipedia articles put it at the same level of rugby unionok guys i have nothing against your sport we will see next year the true impact of this tournament on the international scene

Everything is legit and real when it comes to RL development in Lebanon.

Never knew English is the language in Lebanon. No Arabic version = simply a hoax.

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.

Out of this four "clubs" none has an official status as a club under german law. Basically a nice summer league for Union players in tournament form.I honestly admire the enthusiasm though.

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.

I get the feeling that if League does take off in other countries it's going to be working in tandem with Rugby a lot. There really isn't much animosity between the two sports outside of Australia and to a lesser extent England. Even New Zealanders don't have an issue supporting both codes. I have to wonder if the future for both isn't so much a merger, but for RL to eventually become part of World Rugby as a third alternative to the sport along with XV's and Sevens. League would still be independent in terms of how it shapes its rules and have it's own board determining it's own agenda but would get greater exposure and more money. World Rugby would then have 3 versions of rugby to sell the rights to.

I was not saying they get no coverage, but imagine, soccer came to Australia and the Australian federation's page was in German (or Italian or French or whatever for that matter). Wouldn't that be the first thing you do? Long before you think about translating it into a foreign language?

Last edited by RugbyLiebe on Wed, 06 Dec 2017, 13:47, edited 2 times in total.

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.

I don't know what the state of the game is there really. All I can say is rugby league's profile was increased by the RLWC. People in Lebanon will take pride in any successful national team, even if it is all Australian-born players.

thatrugbyguy wrote:I get the feeling that if League does take off in other countries it's going to be working in tandem with Rugby a lot. There really isn't much animosity between the two sports outside of Australia and to a lesser extent England. Even New Zealanders don't have an issue supporting both codes. I have to wonder if the future for both isn't so much a merger, but for RL to eventually become part of World Rugby as a third alternative to the sport along with XV's and Sevens. League would still be independent in terms of how it shapes its rules and have it's own board determining it's own agenda but would get greater exposure and more money. World Rugby would then have 3 versions of rugby to sell the rights to.

World Rugby would destroy Rugby League at any chance they got and the animosity between the two codes is probably stronger in England than it is in Australia.

I would like to see what the actual plans for this World Cup in 2025. Everything Rugby League does is usually a quick fix that doesn't actually solve long term problems. And forgive my skepticism, but I can't help but feel they are going to try and make this look like it's the All Blacks.

I would like to see what the actual plans for this World Cup in 2025. Everything Rugby League does is usually a quick fix that doesn't actually solve long term problems. And forgive my skepticism, but I can't help but feel they are going to try and make this look like it's the All Blacks.

I second that they will make it look like the All Blacks. Also Denver is not really the best place for a one-off-game. There is a reason the stadium is called mile-high. (for as not interested in medieval/antique nonsensical measurements, thats 1,6 km), so the altitude might be a problem for both teams. But why not.

Last edited by RugbyLiebe on Thu, 07 Dec 2017, 12:01, edited 1 time in total.

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.

I'm very skeptical of Jason Moore in general when it comes to this World Cup project. He managed to bring a very successful Major League Baseball event to Sydney a few years back but baseball has a long and proud history in Australia, so that was always going to be a success. And from what I can tell it's the only successful event his company has done. I would like to know exactly how he sold this idea to the IRLF, what his research was, what work he is doing to generate interest, where the corporate support is, what he's doing at the grass roots level. Moore appears to have made a lot of unrealistic goals.

thatrugbyguy wrote:I get the feeling that if League does take off in other countries it's going to be working in tandem with Rugby a lot. There really isn't much animosity between the two sports outside of Australia and to a lesser extent England. Even New Zealanders don't have an issue supporting both codes. I have to wonder if the future for both isn't so much a merger, but for RL to eventually become part of World Rugby as a third alternative to the sport along with XV's and Sevens. League would still be independent in terms of how it shapes its rules and have it's own board determining it's own agenda but would get greater exposure and more money. World Rugby would then have 3 versions of rugby to sell the rights to.

World Rugby would destroy Rugby League at any chance they got and the animosity between the two codes is probably stronger in England than it is in Australia.

It really isn't. Or rather, as I don't know Australia at all, if it is then the word "animosity" is grossly over stating it for everyone. In the UK there is some rivalry but that's more over things like limited government resources, or good natured banter as you would between fans of rival clubs. The only animosity I see in the UK is really between sections of rugby supporters towards football.

thatrugbyguy wrote:I'm very skeptical of Jason Moore in general when it comes to this World Cup project. He managed to bring a very successful Major League Baseball event to Sydney a few years back but baseball has a long and proud history in Australia, so that was always going to be a success. And from what I can tell it's the only successful event his company has done. I would like to know exactly how he sold this idea to the IRLF, what his research was, what work he is doing to generate interest, where the corporate support is, what he's doing at the grass roots level. Moore appears to have made a lot of unrealistic goals.

Why do you want all of this info before he stages a one-off test? Surely he's trying to use it as proof of concept of RL in the US. Either it works or it doesn't.

I'm just perplexed as to how the governing body of a sport that has next to no presence in North America was convinced by someone it was a good idea to host it there. For as long as I've followed Rugby League the sport has jumped into the deep too often and cut corners where ever it could hoping for something to succeed instead of having any long term strategic plan in place. And it all comes from the attitude people in the game have down here that think audiences are just going to show up and watch the sport. That attitude stems mostly from the AFL being their rival football code, this constant need to think they are 'objectively' the better sport. Ironically, that attitude in the RL community about how good and attractive the sport is is ultimately what's keeping them from actually developing the game anywhere significant. The whole heritage player thing at the World Cup is another example of short term thinking.

thatrugbyguy wrote:I get the feeling that if League does take off in other countries it's going to be working in tandem with Rugby a lot. There really isn't much animosity between the two sports outside of Australia and to a lesser extent England. Even New Zealanders don't have an issue supporting both codes. I have to wonder if the future for both isn't so much a merger, but for RL to eventually become part of World Rugby as a third alternative to the sport along with XV's and Sevens. League would still be independent in terms of how it shapes its rules and have it's own board determining it's own agenda but would get greater exposure and more money. World Rugby would then have 3 versions of rugby to sell the rights to.

World Rugby would destroy Rugby League at any chance they got and the animosity between the two codes is probably stronger in England than it is in Australia.

Fundamentally disagree haven't come across animosity as you infer, i know many clubs with players switch between seasons because they love both sports. I agree with other comments animosity is a strong word.

to add to my previous comments I would love to see a 5 year plan and how this will help the next world cup and beyond. it seems that there is short term planning and strategy to prop up the sport rather than long term plans.

Has Rugby League's (relative) prominence in Lebanon had any impact on Union in the country? I don't know anything about sport in that part of the world but I would have thought that if Lebanon RL can be that prominent then you would at the very least expect the Union side to be able to outcompete their neighbours, who have next to no real presence in either code.

Figaro wrote:Has Rugby League's (relative) prominence in Lebanon had any impact on Union in the country? I don't know anything about sport in that part of the world but I would have thought that if Lebanon RL can be that prominent then you would at the very least expect the Union side to be able to outcompete their neighbours, who have next to no real presence in either code.

Lebanon has just 6 million people (now 7,5 with all the Syrian refugees) divided in 18 different religions (Muslim Sunnites, Muslim Shiites, Druse, various Christian nominations = 27% Shia, 27% Sunni, 21% Maronite, 8% Greek Orthodox, 5% Druze, 5% Melkite, and 1% Protestant, with the remaining 6% mostly belonging to smaller non-native to Lebanon Christian denominations)) and various other backgrounds. Actually a really interesting read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demograph ... ian_system )We in the West always see the countries in that region as quite black/white, but they all have large Christian and Muslim population mixed with various sects in between or as unfamiliar as the Druze.

Lets face it. A bunch of emigrants living in Australia playing as Lebanon won't have that much influence in a country sometimes struggling finding its own identity and even more the brother sport those Aussies play.The LRUF seems at least active with four clubs: http://www.lruf.org/news/2017/2/24/m1ak ... 4zyxmtjvf1 but also here, apparently also more an expat or educated-abroad thing. Otherwise the page and the facebook page would be in Arabic. https://www.facebook.com/LebaneseRugbyUnion/

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.